


you got my back

by IracebethCarroll



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Bad Ideas, Childhood Friends, Childhood friends to enemies to lovers, Demon Kuroo Tetsurou, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Mage Kozume Kenma, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28623429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IracebethCarroll/pseuds/IracebethCarroll
Summary: Kuro had always protected him.Kenma presses his scepter harder in his hand as a new idea starts to form in his head. It’s stupid. It’s crazy. If he is wrong, he will die. But if he’s right-If he’s right, their plan will work. It’ll create the opening for Bokuto to slay the demon king. They’ll win.Kenma wants to win.Kenma's party is backed against a corner and Kenma has an idea. And it's crazy, but he tries anyways.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	you got my back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nekophy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekophy/gifts).



> SO, HI! 
> 
> I wrote this fic as a birthday gift to my wonderful friend Nekophy. She made this [beautiful KuroKen art featuring their Fantasy AU canon designs](https://twitter.com/nekophy_SC/status/1313204390124154880) AND I LOVE IT. I'VE AIMED TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR IT SINCE DAY ONE. If you aren't following Nekophy, please do. She makes some of the cutest most adorable art out there (p≧w≦q)
> 
> So, I know it's late in your timezone already, but happy birthday, Neko! I don't think we say it enough, but you're such a wonderful person: a ball of sunshine and wonder and your existence in general just makes me happy. Take this fic as my birthday hug UwU Thanks for being my friend and for bringing the MiriTama community together. You deserve this and so much more!

_What can I do_? _What can I do_?

_What can I do_?

Kuro’s smug smile finds him; that self-satisfied twinkle to his sparkling red eyes. _Defense, 4800 XP_ , _attack deviation 89.5%_. _We can’t go past him_.

Being the demon’s king servant has surely been convenient for Kuro. Too high on defense; together with the other servants, they’re too much for them. Too high on defense. Whatever attack they try to launch, Kuro will block it.

And what weapons do they have? If they had brought Shouyo and his friend with them, perhaps they could overcome them with speed. But they didn’t. Lev’s attacks are too frontal; too open. Yaku is already panting on the floor from taking the deviated attacks. Bokuto seems about to collapse.

_We are going to die. We are all dead_.

_What can I do_? _What can I do_?

_What can I do_?

“Kuro was your friend, wasn’t it?” Lev had asked, the night before around the fire, while Kenma tried to get some rest despite the terrible noise, “don’t you know any weaknesses?”

Kenma shook his head, having to contain the urge to roll his eyes. He hadn’t even _known_ Kuro was a demon back then. He was posing as a human to him too. He had tricked Kenma, just like everyone else. And he didn’t know. He didn’t know anything.

Kuro’s eyes find him. He smiles at him from the other side of the field — that smug smile turning even wider. Stupidly, he remembers something: Kuro, and him, and other seven or eight village kids playing hide and seek on that valley near their town. Kuro enjoyed chasing more than anything, and Kenma could hear the excitement on his voice when he counted, but he couldn’t share it. He was forced into these encounters by his mother, and he didn’t feel particularly inclined to enjoy them. Whenever Kuro counted, he would hide behind a nearby tree. Kuro would find him first, always, but he’d pretend not to see him and go to find the others first. And Kenma got to sit and relax on most games enjoying his peace. When they played tag, Kuro was the only one that took pity on him and let him catch him, whenever one of Kenma’s traps failed.

The other kids noticed and asked more than once, but Kuro repeatedly denied giving him any special treatment… Except he was, because Kenma had been his first friend, forced by his mother into befriending that odd kid from that odd family. And even when he had done other friends, he’d never quite been able to leave Kenma behind. And when war came, Kuro protected him. Always.

Kuro had always protected him.

Kenma presses his scepter harder in his hand as a new idea starts to form in his head. It’s stupid. It’s crazy. If he is wrong, he will die. But if he’s right-

If he’s right, their plan will work. It’ll create the opening for Bokuto to slay the demon king. They’ll win.

Kenma wants to win.

Keeping his gaze locked on Kuro, Kenma starts to walk back. Slow at first. One step. Two steps. Three steps. And then he’s running.

“Kenma!”

“Kenma-san!”

“Kozume-san-”

“Kenma!”

His party mates screams sound loud in his ears, but they are all confused. Only Kuro’s is tainted with a bit of fear, because only Kuro can imagine how far Kenma would go to win — what he’d be willing to bet. He hears the sound of a spell and dodges left, an explosion and the heat of a fireball exploding nearby. It’s close, but not close enough. Kenma keeps running, smiling when he hears Kuro curse.

The cliff is twenty- thirty feet away. He runs harder, legs burning, and lungs burning in his chest with them. More screams come from his team. They are confused. They don’t get what he is doing. None of them. They don’t know. They don’t get it, but he knows Kuro does. He knows.

“You better not be doing what I think you’re doing!”

Idiot. As if Kenma were to give up that easily. Not when he’s at ten feet. Eight. Five. Three. Kenma keeps his eyes on a single cloud and presses forward hard, until the ground opens empty below him and he starts falling.

The feeling is terrifying. His stomach twists and gets to his throat. Blood rushes to his ears and Kenma can’t even open his mouth to scream. His scepter falls from his grip into the void, and he sees it by his side, as if it floated before he presses his eyes tight together.

Then something hits his body — the back of his legs and his back. Wind rushes to his ears as he is pushed up- _up,_ _up, up, up._ Until he can see the field again — the shocked faces of Lev (he’s alive!), Yaku- Bokuto and Akaashi look back too, shock puzzling their expressions. Even the demon king looks shocked, eyes open wide and mouth open agape. He is looking at Kuro, by his side: at his general that just abandoned his place by his side to chase after a worthless human.

“You idiot!” Kuro almost screams in his ear, “what were you even thinking? What if I hadn’t gotten there in time? You fool, complete idiot, I thought you were smart!”

“Ugh, so loud,” Kenma rolls his eyes. He throws his arms around Kuro’s neck, hiding his face on his neck.

The noise stops abruptly, Kuro’s breath caught in his throat. His arms tense around Kenma. He can feel Kuro’s accelerated heartbeat — do demons have a heartbeat too, then? Do they have lungs and stomachs and flesh and blood?

Then maybe Kuro hasn’t changed that much, has he? Horns aside, he is still the same. The same idiot that would let Kenma sit playing hide and seek and that would give up everything to rush in to help him, no matter what was at stake.

“Kenma- I can’t-”

“Shut up,” Kenma whispers, his eyes welling up with ridiculous _stupid_ tears. It’s not like he got anything. It’s not like- it’s not like he had been expecting _something_ from him. Kuro picked a side, and so did Kenma. That’s it.

But maybe he misses him.

He buries his trembling fingers in Kuro’s hair.

“You could have died,” Kuro mumbles, voice low and broken.

Kenma grimaces, but it’s not even half as bitter when he’s tearing up like that. He leaves a kiss on Kuro’s cheek. His cheek tastes salty — demon’s tears, turn out, taste just like humans’.

“I knew you’d catch me,” he whispers, his other hand coming to cup Kuro’s cheek.

“Am I that predictable?”

“You’re an idiot,” Kenma mumbles, and it makes Kuro chuckle, “too much of an idiot to let your friend die.”

There’s something _hopeful_ in Kenma’s voice and he hates it. He hates that Kuro will pick up on it. He hates that he will get _this_ too.

Kuro chuckles in a low voice. His arms _shake_ around Kenma, his heartbeat even quicker and harder than before.

“You’re a terrible friend, making me worry like that,” Kuro mocks him, though it doesn’t have half of his regular pep.

“Not my fault you have poor tastes.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that was self-explanatory enough xD I don't have much context planned for this, but you can leave questions below if you have them and maybe I'll come up with answers q(≧▽≦q) 
> 
> I don't tweet much about Haikyuu, but I made this [slightly NSFW UshiTen thread about Tendou being worried about them losing contact and Ushijima reassuring him without realizing](https://twitter.com/Iracebeth3/status/1280565744678375425). I also have [a very soft SFW account](https://twitter.com/BethsFluff).
> 
> Remember to wear your mask, stay hydrated and love yourself even when it's hard; specially when it's hard. Happy 2021! (～￣▽￣)～


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